Tests of Genuine Conversion — Paul Washer

The Danger of False Assurance

So many people today boast of the security of the believer and once saved, always saved. And there is great truth in those statements, but they have been twisted to allow carnal people to rest in the assurance that they have been saved when in fact they have not been saved.

And so we need to deal with this issue. I shared with you this morning in Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse 13, that when Paul came to the church at Corinth, some of them were not acting as Christians.

And so he comes to them and he says that they must examine themselves or test themselves to see if they are in the faith. This goes in agreement with the words of Jesus Christ when he said, you will know them by their fruits, that there are evidences to the Christian faith.

But in America today, it's basically it goes somewhat like this. Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart? Yes, I have. Were you sincere? Yes, I think I was. Well, then he has come in because he's given you that promise and you can know that you're saved and stand upon that decision you have made.

In America, there's this idea. I call it decisionism. Most people, when you talk to them about the gospel or you talk to them about their salvation, you quickly find that they believe that they are saved because they are looking at a decision they made instead of looking unto Jesus.

They're trusting in a decision rather than in a person. Now, how did all this happen? Well, it all happens this way by getting away from Scripture. You can be a Bible thumping fundamentalist, which I have nothing against anyone who's thumping a Bible, but you can be a Bible thumping fundamentalist who says that this book is the word of God and still not preach it.

We have developed a church mentality today that church is about so many things, but it doesn't necessarily have much to do with the word of God and what the scriptures say with regard to genuine conversion.

And so we need to get back to that. What is the gospel? What truly happens when someone's saved? And how do you know that you are saved? How do you know? We give an example. We have taken the doctrine of the security of the believer.

That's the terminology used in America today. And we have taken the doctrine of assurance and we've combined the two doctrines together and we've lost both of them. So what you need to understand is this.

The doctrine of security. Is simply this, the person who truly believes in Jesus Christ is saved and kept by the power of God, that's the doctrine of security, but there's a doctrine of assurance. The doctrine of security says the one who believes is saved, but the doctrine of assurance is how do you know you believe?

It is true that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord with faith is saved. Everyone who believes in Jesus is justified. But how do you know you believe, especially in the context of literally millions of people in America who believe they believe?

We could dismiss this church right now and go into every casino in Las Vegas and we would find all sorts of people who believe themselves saved. And why? Because one time in their life they prayed a prayer and asked Jesus to come into their heart.

That's their evidence, their decision. And how sincere they think they were at that moment. But the Bible treats it differently. How do we know that we are saved? We know we are saved because salvation is a supernatural work of God whereby the very nature of a human being is changed and that nature must manifest itself in a new way of living, a new way of life.

Biblical Assurance and the Tests of First John

In first John, chapter five, verse 13, he says, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. He wrote what is written in this book so that by reading it, you would have a biblical assurance.

The scriptures themselves would testify to the fact that you're saved. So that's what we're going to do tonight. We're going to begin a journey of going through some of the tests that John lays down. It's a standard, a biblical standard by which you can compare your life and determine, do I really know him?

Am I really and truly born again? Now, let's start in chapter one, in chapter one, we come to the first test in verse five. This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Now, in verse five, he says, this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Now, what does it mean that God is light? Well, for most of us, when we think of God being light and in him there is no darkness at all, it speaks of the holiness, the moral purity of God.

There is no sin in God. He cannot be tempted by sin. But I believe in the context it's saying something different. You see, this church was being bombarded by false teachers that later came to be known as Gnostics and Gnostics taught that one was saved or one had salvation by this dark, esoteric knowledge that they comprehended.

And there was just a few of them that truly had a comprehension of this dark knowledge of theirs. And for them, God was kind of dark and hidden and mysterious. You could not know him. You could not really know his will.

And John is coming to them and saying, no, God is light. God has revealed himself to you. He has told you who he is, character, and he has told you his will. So to these believers, John comes and says, no, God is not dark.

God is not hidden. You do not need a secret knowledge. God has told you who he is and God has explained to you his will. Now, he goes on from there and says in verse six, if we say we have fellowship with him in contemporary Christianity in America, many people have taken this text to mean.

If we say we're in communion with him as though there could be a genuine Christian who was not walking in communion with God and they take it to mean that there are believers in the world that some walk in communion with God and others do not walk in communion with God.

It's that old thing of spiritual Christian, carnal Christian lost man. We divide up Christianity today or men in three different categories, lost people, carnal Christians and spiritual Christians, lost people, and then Christians where they're sort of on the throne and then Christians where Jesus is on the throne.

But the Bible does not know three categories. It only knows two. And what he's talking about here is not a Christian who may or may not be walking in fellowship. He's talking about the difference between an unbeliever who does not have fellowship with God and a believer who does.

So what he's saying is this, if we say that we have fellowship with him, if we say that we are Christian, if we say that we are born again, if we say that we have salvation, that we're going to heaven.

And yet walk in darkness, we lie. What do we lie about? We lie about our identification with Christ and Christianity. We are not Christian. If we claim fellowship with God and yet walk in darkness, we're lying when we claim fellowship with God.

Now, it's very important here that we understand what it means to walk in darkness, to walk in darkness. Now, as I have said, God is light. He has revealed to us who he is. And he has revealed to us his will.

We know his character and we know his will. To walk in the light is to live in a way that conforms to what we know about God's character and what we know about his will to walk in the darkness is to live in a way that contradicts what Scripture teaches us about the character of God and it contradicts what Scripture teaches us about the will of God.

Now, what does it mean to walk? The word here is Perry, but they all means to walk around. It's referring to a style of life. Let me give you an example. If you were to follow me around with a Polaroid camera or a camera that just took snapshots and you followed me around long enough, it wouldn't take long.

You could take a picture of me in sin. You could take a picture of me, maybe angry or proud or rude or selfish. You could find something and you could take a picture of it and you could blow it up and put it here on the wall and show everyone Paul Washer is not a Christian.

But that snapshot is not a very accurate portrayal of my life, is it? Just by taking one snapshot, you're really not discovering who I really am. But now, if you followed me around with a video camera for days and weeks and months now there you would have an accurate description of who I truly am.

That's what that's what John is talking about here when he talks about walking. A genuine Christian as a style of life, we're not talking about perfectionism here, but a genuine Christian, when you look at their style of life, you are going to see something different from an unbeliever.

And this is what you're going to see a conformity. They're going to live in a way that conforms to what God has taught us about his nature. They're going to live in a way that conforms to what God has taught us about his will.

Again, we're not talking about perfectionism. We're talking about simply a style of life. And you can see this even in a brand new believer, someone who has truly been born again. What will happen? Will they be immature?

Yes. Will they lack knowledge? Yes, absolutely. Will they stumble in many things? Possibly. But what will you see? You will see an ever increasing growing into conformity to Jesus Christ in their style of life.

It may be two steps forward, one step back, four steps forward, three steps back, two steps forward, five steps back. But you're going to see over a period of time a growth in holiness. In sanctification being made more and more holy, you see, you need to understand something.

Man has only two problems. He has a problem with the condemnation of sin. He has another problem with the power of sin. And since in America we have lost the doctrine of regeneration, we've messed everything up.

We believe that God can deal with the first problem. God can save us from the condemnation of sin, because the moment we place our faith in Jesus Christ, God justifies us. That takes care of the condemnation of sin.

But what we have failed to realize is that regeneration is a supernatural work of God. And the person who has trusted in Jesus Christ, the person who has been saved from the condemnation of sin, has also become a new creature, a new creature with a new heart, a new creature with a relationship with the Holy Spirit, who is going to be given power over sin.

Again, we're not talking about perfectionism, but we are talking about real dramatic change that will increase over one's life. And so that's what we need to see. He says the first test is the true Christian.

Their style of life will be marked by conformity to the character of God and conformity to the will of God. Now, is that evident in your life? You see, it doesn't matter if I say, do you agree? The real question is, is it a reality in your life since you have professed faith in Jesus Christ?

Have you noticed a reality of the working of God in which little by little, more and more, he is cutting away all the things in your life that do not conform to his character and his will. And he is leading you into greater conformity to his character and will.

Sometimes a great struggle. Sometimes you walk willingly. Sometimes there's need of discipline by the Holy Spirit or even the hand of God in a way that may physically touch your body or change the circumstances of your life.

But you almost seem imprisoned that God has captured you for himself and he is doing a work that's going to be done. Can you see that in your life? Well, that would be great. That can give you great assurance to know because he who began a good work and you will finish it.

Can you see this? But maybe you cannot see this. There is no evidence or reality of God working in your life to change you, then you ought to be very afraid, extremely afraid. Now, let's go on to the next test.

Sensitivity to Sin and Confession

Verse eight of chapter one, if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now, the first test was this. The genuine Christian, their life will be marked by a style of life that conforms to the character of God and the will of God.

The second test is this. The genuine Christian. Will be sensitive. To the sin in their life. It will bring about repentance in their life and a confession of that sin to both God and men. One of the greatest evidences that you have truly become Christian is not that you have become perfect, but that when you sin, you are convicted by the Holy Spirit, you mourn over that sin and you are brought to confess that sin and confess.

And means this to speak the same thing. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of a certain specific sin, you confess that sin when you say, God, what you are saying to me, I agree with and I say the same thing.

Many people today believe that confession is simply asking God to forgive you of all your sins at night before you go to bed. That's not confession. That's asking for forgiveness. Confession is to speak the same thing.

God speaks to you a word through his word about a certain specific sin in your life and you speak back to God, what you say about me is true. I confess it and I repent. And be careful here, when my wife first came to this country, she said this, she said, the one thing I notice about American Christians more than anything is they are so thin skinned.

You can't tell them anything without them becoming angry and leaving the church. So be very careful, because it might not be God through the preaching of the word or your reading of the word that points out sin in your life.

It might be a pastor who points out sin in your life. It might be a fellow believer who cares about you and has noticed things in your life that should not be. Will you submit to that? Will you humble yourself before that?

Or will you straighten up your back and stiffen your neck and walk away in your self-righteous pride and go straight to hell? You see, one of the greatest marks of true Christianity is that we are a confessional people.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who look at their life. And they loathe even some of their activity and some of their ways, but it causes them to hope in Christ and Christ alone.

Blessed are those people, for they shall be comforted with a great work of God. Today, in modern day evangelism, we want people to be saved without them mourning. And if we see someone mourning, we immediately want to run up to them and comfort them and give comfort and say, peace, peace to someone whom God does not want to have comfort.

I was preaching several years ago in a church in Tennessee, and they had all these counselors prepared and everything, which is always a bad sign. They had all these counselors ready for the people who are going to come forward.

And God began to move and people began to weep. And even before I got through preaching, people started because in the South, this is often very popular. People started passing forward and crying out on the steps and things.

And there was this lady who was in charge of all the counselors and she did not like me. And so she looked up at me and she said, should we go? I said, no. I kept talking and all of a sudden I realized she's going to bolt on me.

She's going to do it anyway. So I go down there, I stood beside her and she just looked at me and all these people weeping and crying. And one girl was on the platform just almost hysterical about her sin.

And she was just looking at me like, you hateful man, why don't you let us comfort these people? And she took one step forward and I put my hand on her shoulder and I said, don't touch the ark of God.

It is God who is wounding these people. Leave it alone. God will wound them. God will heal them. And he did. He did. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn. We're about the God of self-esteem and the idolatry of self-realization and everything else.

Don't we realize we are a broken, fallen people? Oh, and the reality of sin is so grotesque before a holy God in his throne. And when we sin, it is a terrible thing. And if we are an unbeliever, we cannot see it.

But even believers today have trouble seeing it because it is so infrequently preached. The terrible reality, or as the Puritans used to say, the sinfulness of sin needs to be brought home to us so that we will mourn.

But if we are believers, we do not mourn unto despair. It's not a repentance unto death. But that mourning eventually turns into joy as we look upon Christ. As we look upon Christ, let me ask you a question, when was the last time you mourned over your sin?

When was the last time God struck your heart as a man ringing a bell? About inconsistencies in your in your way of being, in your way of acting. How hard is our heart become? You see, the Christian life is something like.

In order to come to know the Lord, you're standing there, you're blind to all spiritual realities, you know, not God. The gospels preach the spirit of God regenerates your heart for the first time in your life.

You look upon God and his holiness. You look upon self and sin with disgust. But you're not left in despair because with that revelation of God's holiness, with that revelation of your sin comes a revelation of the grace of God in the face of Christ.

You're irresistibly drawn to him and you fall in to his salvation. But as you begin to grow in Christ, the same thing happens over and over as you walk with Christ, there are greater and greater revelations of who God is.

If you're studying the scriptures, there's greater revelation of who God is, but then there's greater revelation of your sinfulness, but you're not left in despair because there's greater revelation of the grace of Christ.

So eventually what happens? You come to the end of your days, an old, broken man who puts no confidence whatsoever in the flesh and yet has more joy than it can even be described because you're looking on to Christ and to Christ alone.

The Third Test: Obedience to God's Commands

Now. It's amazing, and pastors usually are able to pick up on this immediately when I say it. It is amazing that so often when I have preached over the years, the Holy Spirit may begin to work and start breaking people of their sin or a pastor, you know, is preaching from the pulpit one Wednesday night or something, and God just begins to do an unusual work in the hearts of people and people begin to weep over their sin.

Isn't it amazing that it's always almost always the most pious, dedicated, godly people in the church who are weeping over their sin? And the most wicked, carnal, cold people in that building sit there as though not one as though they had not one sin among them.

What are we seeing? We're seeing the difference between the saved and the lost. That's what we're seeing. The difference between God working in his people and God not working in those who are not his people, that's what we're seeing.

So I want you to be encouraged. Have you ever Christian, have you ever just mourned over your sin? Have you ever just said to yourself, I feel like I'm not even growing. Have you ever just thought, oh, Lord.

Who will save me from this body of death and cried out to Christ and struggled against sin? Well, then rejoice, rejoice. There's hope for you. It's a good mark that you've truly come to know him. It's a good mark that you've truly come to know him.

You know, people will come to me all the time, they said, Brother Paul, I got a new relationship with God and I'll always ask them, well, then do you have a new relationship with sin? Because if you don't have a new relationship with sin, you don't have a new relationship with God.

You see, the moment I married my wife, my relationship with that woman changed, but also my relationship with every other woman on the face of the earth changed. If you have a new relationship with God, you're going to have a new relationship with sin.

It's going to change. So now we have two marks of the true Christian. One is. The true Christian as a style of life, not perfect at all, but as a style of life, he'll be marked by a conformity to the nature of God and the will of God.

Another evidence is this, that the true Christian, although susceptible to sin and many weaknesses. He is broken over the same. Over his sin, over his weaknesses. He is a confessional person, a person who is known to confess his sin.

To acknowledge his sin. To not stiffen his neck against sin. Now, let's go to another test, verse three of chapter two, by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar.

And the truth is not in him. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. So people tell me they have a new relationship with God. I ask them, do you have a new relationship with sin?

But I also ask them, do you have a new relationship with God's commands? Because if you don't have a new relationship with God's commands, you do not have a new relationship with God. Now, again, we need to look at this.

By this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. The present tense here, I believe, is very, very important because, again, it is pointing to a style of life. He's not saying that we know we've come to know him because we perfectly obey all the commands of God.

Saying we know that we've come to know him because the style of our life has been changed with regard to the commandments of God. Prior to a person's conversion, they don't think about God's commands or God's will.

They're basically ignorant of God's will, when they break God's will, they don't know it, when they do know that they break God's will, it does not bother them in the least unless, of course, they get caught.

But when someone is truly regenerate, there is a new relationship with the commandments of God. They have a sincere desire to know the will of God. Now, let me stop here, it's very, very important. When I say that, I'm not speaking again of perfectionism, none of you study the Bible as you ought to.

And neither do I. All of us are prone to dullness of heart, all of us lament oftentimes how cold we are to the commandments of God and unconcerned, but that is just the point when we are unconcerned and when we are cold towards these things, it bothers us.

We see the wrongness of it. It strikes at our heart and leads us back to the second test. We confess it and ask for grace. But let me tell you this, if you claim to know Christ and yet the will of God is not a central concern for you.

You're not in his word. It doesn't bother you that you're ignorant of his word, it doesn't bother you that you break his commands when you do know that you're breaking his commands, it has no effect on you.

You ought to be afraid, very afraid. But if you're someone who truly desires to know his will. And ashamed at times of your dullness of heart and it leads you to repentance, it causes you to strike out again to know what he has said and to understand his word, and it is a struggle and a desire in your life.

And this is evidence that God has done a work in your heart, that God has done a work. Are the scriptures important to you? Do they have any effect on your daily life? Isn't it amazing that one believer can write that they're sweeter than honey and another believer doesn't even want to taste?

I don't think so. I don't think so. What relationship do you have with the word of God and the commandments of God? Remember what Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

This one will enter. He is not teaching that we are saved by works, he is simply teaching that a truly converted man by faith will be a changed man who is concerned about the will of God and obedience to it is the will of God have a central place in your life now, even for those of you truly regenerate and those of you truly have a concern for the things of God.

Let me just warn you about something just because you have salvation right, just because you're reformed or just because you've got a correct doctrine of of conversion and regeneration and all these things don't think you're correct in all things.

It's not just the will of God with regard to certain aspects of theology, it's the will of God and the commandments of God with regard to the totality of the Christian life. I run in a circle of men who are very concerned about salvation and the way that it should be properly handled and taught.

But sometimes I fear for us because the only thing we talk about is the proper theology with regard to conversion and regeneration and election and this and that and other things. And we forget that there's a whole gamut of Christianity out there and we're called to be submissive to all the commands of Christ, how we treat our wives, how we teach our children, how we spend the money that the Lord entrusts to us.

Absolutely everything is to be brought in subjection to the lordship of Jesus Christ, not just one tiny part, but the whole. And that is the struggle of the Christian life, not that any of us have arrived or attained.

But we press on. We press on to be conformed to Christ in all aspects of our life now. It is the one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments as a liar and the truth is not in him.

Walking as Christ Walked

Now, I want us to go now to another test in verse six. Of chapter two, the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked, the first test was this, a true believer, their style of life will be marked.

By living in conformity to the nature, character and will of God. Another test is that the true believer will be sensitive with regard to their sin and be brought to the confession of it. A true believer will have a new relationship with the commandments of God.

They will become important to him in ever increasing measure. And when the believer has dullness of heart with regard to the commands, he will be struck in his heart that will be labeled as sin. Now, the next test is this, the one who truly knows Christ will walk as Christ walked.

The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. You say, well, Brother Paul, then we're all going to hell who walks like Jesus walked. Well, that's what it says, first of all, that's what we have to deal with.

It says the one who says he abides in him is truly Christian, ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. The best way I can describe this is an illustration that I use from my childhood. I was raised on a cattle ranch.

We raised charlotte cattle and quarter horses. And my dad was from the old school. He would come in my room even when I was a little boy at five thirty in the morning and say, Paul, boy, get up. First Bible verse I ever memorized was this.

There's no rest for the wicked. That's what my dad would always say. So he'd say, get up. And back then, when your dad said, get, you better be up before he gets to up. And so it's get up, I got up, you didn't whine, you were happy to get up, you were alive and we would go out sometimes and we would feed the cattle and we'd feed the horses and we carried big rubber buckets.

And my dad was a very big man, take big steps and he'd walk out there through the snow. And as a little boy, I wanted to be just like my dad, just like him. So I'd grab a bucket in each hand and, you know, you know what I would try to do.

I would try to put my foot in his footprint. And I would be straddled out there like a spider, like a drunken spider walking across that farm lot here, my dad taking normal steps of a very large man and me, a little boy of three feet and a half with two big buckets stretching out as far as I could.

I looked absolutely ridiculous. And sometimes I would fall down, which is not very advisable in a feedlot. Most of you aren't from the farm, are you? They're messy. So I would look ridiculous. I fell down often.

I stumbled and I got messy at times. And if any observer had been looking at it from outside, they would have laughed their head off. But there would have been no doubt in their mind that the greatest desire in that boy's heart was to walk like his dad, regardless of the failures, the drop buckets, the steps out of place, the being out of balance.

There was enough reality there to know that little boy wants to be like his dad the same way with the true Christian, dropped buckets, stumbling off balance, messy at times. But when you look at the full course of their life, there won't be a doubt in your mind that person wants to be like Jesus, wants to be like Jesus.

Is that a reality in your life? Is it a reality in your life, do you want to be like him and those of us who minister ought to be very, very careful here. There are a lot of ministers in hell. We ought to be very, very careful.

Our goals can become so distorted and reveal the true nature of our heart. We want to be important. We want to preach. Well, we want to be respected. We want to have large churches. We want to have all these things.

And we could be a sign of an unregenerate heart of a religious man en route to hell. There are so many places where I have preached big shots, big churches. And if I were to talk to those men about church growth, if I were to talk to them about ways to make their church more glorious or larger or whatever, I would have all their attention.

But if I were to open up the book of Colossians and began to speak about the glories of Christ, they'd look over my shoulder wondering who's the next guy coming. It's frightening. The goal of our life ought to be to be like Christ, to be like Christ.

Is that a reality in your life? Now, again, I'm not talking about an inflamed attitude of a David Brainerd 24 hours a day. None of us have such a passion that burns all the days of our lives. Sometimes we grow cold.

But when we do, we are convicted and we are brought to our senses and we are pointed back to the right way, and that is of being conformed to the image of Christ. I goes on is another test, verse nine of chapter two, the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in darkness until now the one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. One of the greatest manifestations of true conversion.

Love for the Brethren

Is that we love the brethren. Now, brother here is not a reference to someone of another race, I hate that terminology anyways, because it's racist in itself, there's only one race, it's called a human race.

There are not different kinds of races in this world, there are human beings in this world. And here it's not a reference to someone of another color or another creed here. It is not a reference to the poor.

We ought to love the poor, but that's not what he's talking about here. When he talks about the brethren, our brothers, he is talking about other Christians. And one of the greatest demonstrations that you are truly Christian is you're going to want to be with other Christians doing Christian things, talking Christian talk, thinking Christian thoughts.

I have to say that because if I just say fellowship for a bunch of Baptists, it means eating pizza. It's true, isn't it? Or whatever you eat out here, but I'm sure you're eating something. Prior to my conversion, I used to lift weights in this this gym, it's like a dungeon.

And it was right across this tiny street from a church. And every Wednesday night when those holier than thou people, I would call them, would go into that church, I would open up the gym windows and put on ACDC Highway to Hell as loud as I could possibly play it and just stand in the window and look at them.